Counting Down to Our 40th Anniversary
It was three degrees on a January morning in 1979 when I first walked into the Community Access-owned apartment buildings on the Lower East Side. Up until then, I hadn’t given much thought to the seismic shift in mental health policy that saw the release of thousands of former patients into the community. Community Access’s founding board members were well aware of the issue, and the often tragic consequences of expecting extremely poor people, with little experience living independently, to make their way in the world.
The simple solution our founders developed was to lease apartments on behalf of former patients and, eventually, purchase two buildings on the verge of tax foreclosure and operate them as affordable housing with a staff person available to assist when needed. Significantly, the agency maintained the mix of families and former patients that came with the deal.
As run-down as these old tenements looked on the outside, there was a spirit of community and hope among the people who lived there. Tenants had leases and paid their own rent, they assisted each other with cooking and shopping, many had jobs, and most importantly, they were treated with respect and could plan for the future because they had a secure home.
Skip forward to 1993 and the opening of our first newly constructed, 50-unit apartment building at 258 East 4th Street. The model we used was exactly the same as the one I found in 1979: a mix of families and singles, with support from staff when needed. (See Community Access housing.)
On the 20th anniversary of 258 East 4th Street, I’m pleased to report that the model really works, judging by the stability of the tenants who live there and the cost savings it provides. Since 1993, 11 of the original 22 “Community Access tenants” still live in the building, as well as 16 of the original 28 families. It is a model we have repeated in three other projects and that has been replicated elsewhere in New York and nationally, all with equally impressive results.
Unfortunately, there are still thousands of former patients living in desperate, squalid conditions and adult homes. Community Access will use the occasion of its 40th anniversary in 2014 to greatly expand our capacity to produce more supportive housing using this mixed model. Our experience has shown that it promotes community integration, recovery, and true citizenship for people living with mental illness.
Thank you for your support and partnership, and for helping us provide housing each night to over 1,400 individuals and families. Please stay tuned as we roll out our plans for developing even more housing, as well as new programs and services to improve care and produce overall savings in health care costs.
